I knew for a fact that the huge ass makeup kit that Karmen and Alice had bought her was way more exciting.
“Just open it,” she insisted.
“Fine,” Slayer grunted.
I fully expected Adley to grab a box from under the tree but was surprised as hell when Slayer stood up and turned to look down at me.
“Uh, what are you doing?” I whispered.
He reached into his pocket and held out a small box. “Giving you your present.”
I grabbed it with shaky fingers and thought of everything that could be in a box that small.
Earrings.
Uh.
Matches.
A belly button ring. Which would be weird since I didn’t have my belly button pierced.
There was something else that could be in there, but there was no way in hell that was what it was.
“It’s so tiny,” I laughed nervously. I got the paper off the box and stopped breathing when I read the jewelry store name on the lid. “I think you gave me the wrong present, Slayer,” I gasped.
He shook his head. “No, sugar. That one is yours.”
I closed my eyes and gripped the lid of the box.
This could not be happening. It had to be earrings.
I flipped open the top, but I kept my eyes closed.
“Wendy, open your eyes, sugar,” Slayer called.
My eyes flitted open, and I screamed when Slayer was kneeling in front of me. “I knew I should have put a bell on you!”
He grabbed the box from me and snapped the lid shut. “Willow, Winnie Winnifred, Wynonna, and any other name I’ve ever called you, I know we haven’t known each other long and I know there is a ton we still need to learn about each other, but the second you agreed to come live with me and Adley, you stole our hearts.” Slayer cleared his throat, and his eyes connected with mine. “For thirty-four years, I’ve lived my life however I wanted and did what I wanted. Twenty days ago, my life changed forever. Twenty days ago, I met my daughter. Twenty days ago, I asked you to live with me. Twenty days ago, I didn’t know it then, but I met my future and now, I don’t want to let it go.” He grabbed my hand and slipped the ring on my finger. “We don’t have to get married tomorrow, or next week, but I want you, Wendy. I want you next to me just like you were twenty days ago, and I want to raise my daughter with you. I know that life is going to throw me curveballs, but I know there isn’t anyone else in this world that I want next to me to help catch them. Will you marry me?”
My heart shot out of my chest, and I couldn’t speak. Tears blurred my vision, and I did the only thing I could. I nodded and fell into Slayer’s arms.
“I can’t believe he got you a diamond ring and she only bought him socks,” Alice called.
“Oh, my God, Alice. Would you shut up?” Karmen laughed.
“I did buy you socks for Christmas,” I sobbed into Slayer’s shirt.
Slayer brushed my hair from my face and smiled. “I needed socks so,” he shrugged and pressed a kiss to my lips, “I’ll just think of you every time I put them on.”
“Oh, God, whoever told you to buy him socks for Christmas is a pure genius. I wonder who that could be?” Alice coughed loudly. “You should all be so lucky to get socks.”
Adley butted her way in between Slayer and me. She wrapped her arms us and pulled us into a hug.
I cried my eyes out.
I had made my choice.
Every day for the rest of my life, I would choose Adley and Slayer.
*
Chapter Twenty-One
Slayer
“Did you really buy me socks?”
Wendy buried her face in my chest. “Oh, God, I really did.” She looked up at me and laughed. “And they are butt ugly, too. Neon. But I do have another present for you. It’s to make up for the socks.”
“I’m never letting you shop with Alice ever again.” I shook my head and pressed a kiss to her lips. “They’re not cow print, are they?”
God knew if it was cow print, Alice would find it and she would buy it.
Wendy burst out laughing, and it was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard.
“I promise that I will never bu—”
The clubhouse exploded around us, and I clutched Wendy to my chest as we flew through the air and smacked against the bar. My head throbbed instantly, and pain sliced through my side.
Wendy groaned, and her body went limp.
“Wendy,” I called. I had no idea what the fuck had just happened, but Wendy was hurt. I managed to lift her around to the back of the bar and laid her down.
“Slayer,” she whispered.
I ran my hands over her body trying to figure out where she was hurt. “Where does it hurt, baby?” I asked
“Stop, stop,” she gasped. “Adley,” she sputtered. “Where is Adley?”
“Adley!” I shouted.
“I got her! I got her,” Clash called. “She’s good. Not hurt.”
But where the fuck was she?
Before the explosion, Wendy and I were sitting on the couch, just talking, while Adley was on the floor with Raven and Clash looking at the makeup set she had gotten.
“Ho, ho, ho.”
Who in the fuck was that?
“Come on out, Fallen Lords. God knows that little accident didn’t kill any of you fuckers.”
“Slayer,” Wendy whispered. She coughed, and I moved to her side. “What is going on?”
I brushed her hair out of her face and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I don’t know, sugar. Just stay back here and don’t come out unless I come and get you.”
She nodded and closed her eyes. “Please find Adley. I need to see her,” she sobbed.
I pressed one last kiss to her lips and vowed to bring Adley to her.
I crouched down, reached under the bar, and found a gun stashed there.
“Come on, Fallen Lords. I brought you a little Christmas present. I know you guys have been looking for one just like it.” The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place who it was.
I managed to peek around the edge of the bar and saw Wrecker behind a table that was overturned. Alice was huddle behind him with tears streaming down her face.
“We come out and how are we supposed to know you aren’t gonna ambush us?” Wrecker called.
Alice sobbed loudly, and Wrecker pulled her into his arms.
“Oh, come on, Wrecker, is there no honor among thieves?” the voice asked.
“Just tell us what you want, Jenkins,” Wrecker demanded.
Holy fuck.
“Oh, he remembers me,” Jenkins laughed. “I bet you also remember when you took my sister and then helped yourself to my deal with Oakley, too?”
“You asked us to watch Cora, and you screwed up the deal with Oakley yourself when you couldn’t keep your hands off the merchandise.” Wrecker nodded behind me.
I turned and saw Boink and Pipe making their way over to me. They had been in their rooms when the explosion happened.
“What in the fuck happened?” I hissed.
Pipe handed me another gun and moved in front of me to see Wrecker. “Jenkins drove his fucking SUV into the clubhouse.”
“Fucking Christ,” I cursed.
Pipe motioned to Wrecker that we were ready to do whatever he wanted.
Wrecker counted down from three and then slowly rose. We all followed suit, and we saw the wreckage Jenkins had caused.
Where Wendy and I had been sitting was now occupied by Jenkins’ SUV, and to the side of it, Clash rose to his feet. My eyes connected with his, and he nodded.
Adley was okay. I couldn’t see her, but I knew that Clash would take care of her until I could get to her.
“There we go,” Jenkins called. He turned in a full circle with his arms stretched out. “Now the gang's all here.”
Jenkins looked like he had crawled out of a sewer. His long, blonde hair was slicked back; his clothes were filthy and ripped all over. His boots looked like he had just put them on an
d not bothered to lace them up.
“I can’t believe I didn’t get an invite to the club Christmas party.” Jenkins smiled wide and pointed at Wrecker. “But like I said, I did bring a present even though I was left off the guest list.”
“This motherfucker is crazy,” Pipe muttered.
“Makes him even more dangerous,” Boink whispered. “I’m gonna see if I can get outside without him noticing me.”
Pipe nodded, and Boink dropped to the floor without a sound.
Wrecker grabbed Jenkins’ attention. “We were trying to find an address to send an invite to, but you’re a hard man to find, Jenkins.”
Jenkins pulled a gun from his waistband, and everyone went on alert. “Isn’t that just funny how things like that work?” He used the barrel of the gun to itch his face and laughed. “I didn’t want to be found, but you keep sending people to look for me.” Jenkins laugh maniacally. “But they couldn’t find me. They got close one time.” He spread his arms out. “Alas, they just couldn’t find me.”
“What present did you want to give us?” Pipe asked.
“Oh, Pipe. The slightly loose cannon and vice president.” He waved the gun at Pipe, but his finger wasn’t on the trigger. “You could have gone places if you would have come to the River Valley chapter.”
Pipe shrugged. “Rockton is a better chapter for me.”
And not to mention Jenkins had destroyed the River Valley chapter. At one point in time, that had been the club to be a part of. Now, it was just a pile of rubble.
“True, true.” Jenkins dropped his arm. “But enough reminiscing, let’s get to the present, shall we?” Jenkins moved to the truck and pulled open the rear passenger door. “Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty.” Jenkins leaned into the SUV, but I couldn’t see what he was doing. It looked like he was pulling on something, but no one could see what it was.
Brinks’ body hit the floor hard, and he didn’t move.
“Merry Christmas!” Jenkins jumped down from the SUV and kicked Brinks’ foot. “I swear he’s just taking a nap.” He held up his hand that didn’t have a gun. “Scout’s honor.”
Something shifted behind Jenkins, and he turned quickly and fired three consecutive shots. Wendy would have told me we needed to put a bell on him.
“Swear to fucking Christ, Wrecker. If one of your asshole men try anything, I will kill you all.” Jenkins turned slowly, pointing his gun at each of us. His finger was on the trigger, and I knew this whack job wasn’t kidding.
“Try me and find out.” He blew a kiss to Pipe. “I know you’re a wildcard.”
Pipe slowly held up his hands. “Don’t even have a gun in my hands.”
Jenkins snickered. “Just because it’s not in your hand doesn’t mean it’s not within reaching distance.” Jenkins pointed at two overturned tables. “Try me and I’ll put a bullet in your ol’ lady.”
Pipe’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t say anything. Nikki must have been behind the table because normally Pipe would have cracked a joke or dared him to take the shot.
“Just let us know what you want in exchange for Brinks, Jenkins. We’ll get you anything you want.” Wrecker tried to get the attention back on him and off whatever Boink was doing outside.
“One thing I want.” He laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “I mean two things. Two things I want and then I’ll be on my merry way. Jingle bells and all that.”
“Name them.”
Jenkins held up one finger. “Cora.”
Alice gasped and clamored to stand up. “Keep your ass on the floor, woman,” Wrecker thundered.
She froze in place. “You can’t give him Cora,” she hissed.
“What is the other thing you want?” Wrecker asked.
“This is going to be the hard one for you.” Jenkins wiped his nose and smiled. “Let. Me. Go.” He whirled around and pointed his gun in the direction of Boink. “Let me out of here with Cora. Don’t chase after me. Just let me disappear into the night.”
“You destroy my clubhouse and I’m just supposed to let you go?” Wrecker shook his head.
“But it was so easy for you to destroy my clubhouse!” Jenkins yelled. “Fucking leveled to the ground. All you need to do is build a couple of walls and you’re back in business.” His finger rested on the trigger of his gun. “Agree or I kill your man on the other side of the wall.”
Wrecker stood stock still. “I give you Cora, let you leave, and I never see you again.”
“Sounds like the perfect agreement to me. Give me what I want and I disappear.” He plastered a wonky smile on his face. “You know I’m good at that. You just spent a month looking for me and just couldn’t get me.”
“Where’s Cora?” Wrecker called.
“She’s with Raven,” Clash called from the other side of the room.
“Sister,” Jenkins called. “Time to come home.”
Alice sobbed and yanked on Wrecker’s leg. “You can’t do this,” she pleaded.
Wrecker ignored her. “Cora.”
A ruckus sounded from where Clash said Cora were.
“No, I won’t let my brother do this to you,” Raven argued.
“Let me go,” Cora hissed. “I don’t want to be here anyway.”
Raven was scrappy, but Cora was the one girl I would not want to mess with.
“Raven,” Wrecker bellowed. “Leave her the fuck alone.”
Cora slowly rose up from behind the table and stood there.
Jenkins slowly walked over to her. “Time seems to have been in your favor, sister.”
I heard Adley sob, and it killed me to not be able to comfort her.
“What is this?” Jenkins called, his tone sick and twisted. “Are you Cora 2.0?” He turned to Wrecker. “Are you raising your whores from infancy now?”
“Get one inch closer to the girl and I swear to God, you won’t even see it coming.” Wrecker’s tone was murderous, and his intent was clear.
Jenkins held up his hands. “You can have that bitch. I can tell you that they’re more trouble than they are good.” He hitched his head to Cora. “I put the time in on her so I just want her.”
“Take her and get the fuck out of my sight.” Wrecker’s hands were clenched at his sides, and Alice was punching his leg.
Cora moved toward Jenkins, and when she was within distance, he snatched her by the hair and yanked her to the ground. “Welcome home, sister. There’s so much we need to catch up on.” He dragged her to the back of the SUV and shoved her inside.
“Well,” he called after he slammed the trunk shut. “It’s been grand catching up with you all, but I really do need to be going.” He moved to the driver’s side and stepped on Brinks. “You really should get him to a doctor.” He kicked his foot again, but Brinks didn’t move. “It might already be too late.”
Jenkins let off another peel of manic laughter and hopped into the SUV.
“You can’t let him leave!” Alice yelled. “Wrecker!”
Jenkins leaned out the driver’s window and pointed his gun at Wrecker. “Make one fucking move and I’ll kill you.” He shifted into reverse, his arm still out the window with the gun pointed at Wrecker, and backed out.
Alice sobbed uncontrollably and beat on Wrecker’s leg. “Don’t do this,” she pleaded.
Once Jenkins was out of view, he lifted Alice off the ground and leaned in until his nose was touching hers. “Trust me,” he growled low. He leaned back and thundered, “Everybody fucking trust me!”
He set Alice gently on the ground and stalked through the rubble of the clubhouse and dropped on his knees next to Brinks. “Call an ambulance!” he ordered.
Boink pulled his phone out and made the call.
I dropped back down to Wendy and gathered her in my arms.
She was sitting up and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Adley.”
All she cared about was making sure Adley was okay.
I lifted her in my arms and carried her over to where Cora had been.
Boink was o
n the phone calmly telling them to get to the clubhouse now with an ambulance.
Wrecker was frantically pumping on Brinks chest while Pipe was on the other side of him taking his pulse. “I can barely get a pulse, brother.”
“Slayer, please,” Wendy cried. “Brinks is dying.”
I didn’t know what to tell her. We had to get him to the hospital, and I prayed to God whoever was driving the ambulance that day drove like the devil was chasing him. “They got him, sugar. They’re doing everything they can.”
“Adley,” I called.
She popped up from behind the table where Cora had been hiding and ran straight into me. “Daddy,” she sobbed. “You have to go get her,” she pleaded.
I dropped Wendy to her feet and gathered Adley in my arms. “Get who, doll?”
“Cora,” she cried. “She saved me. She grabbed me before the SUV ran me over. We have to help her!” Adley was hysterical, her sobs shaking her whole body.
“Shh, doll. Don’t worry about Cora.” There wasn’t anything we could do for Cora right now.
Somehow, this hectic scene was all going according to plan.
Destruction.
Tears.
Heartbreak.
This is what was supposed to happen, but none of us knew if it was all going to be okay or if the end of this was going to be the new normal for the Fallen Lords.
It couldn’t end this way, right?
*
Chapter Twenty Two
Cora
He drove for hours, stopping twice for gas.
My head throbbed from where he had ripped out my hair, and my fingertips were stained with blood from the wound.
He had sectioned off the back of the SUV with bullet proof glass and the hatch was covered with haphazard pieces of metal screwed to chassis to cover the windows.
There was no way for me to get out.
“You think you could give me a blanket or something?” I called.
Jenkins eyes flashed in the rearview mirror. “Can’t sleep?”
I shook my head. “Kind of hard to do on hard plastic.”
The man who looked at me wasn’t anyone I knew. My brother was dead, and he had been replaced with this deranged psycho.
Fallen Lords MC: Books 7-9 Page 27
